LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. –

Black Book announced Monday it has a new chief technology officer and senior vice president, a newly created role for the company.

Chosen for the role is Laird Popkin. The promotion is effective immediately.

In the new position, Popkin is responsible for all product development and IT operations for the entire group, which includes National Auto Research, Veretech Holdings Inc., and Canadian Black Book, which the company acquired last week.

Popkin will report to Tom Cross, president of Black Book.

In his previous role, Popkin was a chief enterprise architect at Kaplan Inc. He touts more than 25 years of executive and technology management experience and has held CTO positions at Pando Networks; Warner Music Group; 3Path; Sotheby’s Holdings; and News Corp’s Internet Services.

“Laird is the ideal choice to help drive Black Book’s IT and product initiatives as we continue to leverage technology capabilities and innovations and create breakthrough products and services for the automotive industry,” Cross said. “Laird’s technical expertise, passion for technology, and operational excellence will help us in our commitment to continually enhance our market-leading products to meet the needs of our customers.”